Oatlands heading for election

Oatlands is on the way to establishing its own Community Council.  A public meeting this week in the OCRC approved a draft constitution with extra time being allowed to enable to two members of the Oatlands Development Trust to read the draft documents and offer any amendments.

Stewart Burns of Glasgow City Council’s CommunityCouncils’  Resource Centre led the group of around 20 local residents through the process and explained the details. ‘The constitution is effectively similar to the constitution used across all community councils in Scotland,’ he said. ‘In June, Glasgow City Council formally approved The Scheme which came out of extensive working groups across the country to co-ordinate and rationalise Community Councils and their procedures.’

He anticipated the formal first election of Community Councillors for Oatlands could be held around 15 December.  Once elected, their first meeting would be in January.

The photograph shows some of the members of the original steering group: (from left) Tracy Noble, Lisa Gillen, Marie Reilly,  Stewart Burns, Councillor Jahangir Hanif, Donna Motherwell, Jane Cawley.

 

Battleground Govan

Govan Road marks the dividing line between Glasgow Southside and Glasgow Pollok for the Scottish Parliament constituencies. And on Saturday 16 April it saw the SNP on one side of the road and the Labour Party on the other.
While the Labour Party had a stall and leaflets and loads of red ballons on the new Govan Cross Public Square, the SNP had star of screen and stage, Elaine C. Smith marching shoulder to shoulder with Nicola Sturgeon who aims to retain her seat in Glasgow Southside.
Said Elaine, who switched from Labour some years ago: ‘The question is – who will represent Scotland best? Who will fight Scotland’s corner? I believe it is the SNP and I’ve supported Alex Salmond for several years. He gave me advice on how to approach people when out canvassing. Believe it or not, speaking face to face with strangers is quite nerve-wracking for me because I’m used to facing an audience who are sitting in the dark and at a distance! So Alex’ advice was – talk about anything other than politics. Let that person raise the subject that is on their mind and then address it.’
Nicola, who was fresh from launching the Party’s manifesto, glossed over the fact that the spot for the photo opportunity included a Subway sandwich shop in the background. It was into another branch of that franchise that the Labour leader Iain Gray rushed when he tried to avoid a group of Citizens United Against the Cuts campaigners who wanted to speak to him.
But in Govan the sandwich shop was shutter and across the road the Labour Party team, led by Johann Lamont who is fighting to retain her Glasgow Pollok seat, was out in force. Councillors Alistair Watson and Jahangir Hanif were there and Councillor Stephen Curran who is standing against Nicola Sturgeon, had already been to Govan and gone on to Pollokshaws in his campaign trail.
Carefully ignoring each other, the two party teams lobbied passersby, especially those heading for the busy Saturday market at the Water Row side of Govan Cross. The votes cast on Thursday 5 May will finally show how many people have crossed the road, politically.